Race for Wisconsin Attorney General Could Be Very Close. Again

Josh Kaul and Eric Toney.

The Nov. 3 election may be months away, but the campaign for attorney general — between two-term incumbent Democrat Josh Kaul and Republican Eric Toney, the Fond du Lac County district attorney who got 49% of the vote against Kaul four years ago — has already begun.

“Do you want a ‘yes man’ for Donald Trump in the attorney general’s office?” Kaul asked Democrats at their state convention. “That’s the last thing we need.”

Meanwhile, Toney told Republicans at their convention that “Josh Kaul has become everything people hate about politics, It’s time we have an attorney general that will proudly stand with our law enforcement.”

Toney, whose father was a police officer for more than 30 years, said his experience prosecuting murder, domestic abuse, kidnapping, and crimes committed by illegal immigrants qualifies him to be attorney general.

The attorney general heads the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which has about 750 employees and an annual budget of $216 million. It investigates major crimes, operates the state crime lab, represents state agencies in court and has offices of victim services, school safety, and public records and open government meetings.

With the approval of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Kaul said he joined with other Democratic attorneys general to file “more than 50 multistate cases against the Trump administration [with] significant success.” Kaul said he joined suits against Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship and his agencies’ attempts to dismantle public health, clean energy, disaster relief and other programs.

“As your attorney general, it has been my honor to fight back when they are breaking the law,” Kaul said. “I haven’t gotten sick of beating the Trump administration yet.”

President Trump “simply has not been on the side of working families,” Kaul said. “He has looked out for the ultrawealthy. He signed into law tax cuts that provided massive benefits for the wealthy.”

At the Republican convention, Toney didn’t mention Trump — whose statewide approval rating in the most recent Marquette University Law School poll was 38% — by name.

Instead, Toney said Kaul has filed “lawsuit after lawsuit — driving resources away from public safety to push a radical, left-wing agenda.” Kaul broke his preelection promise to not be “too political,” the Republican said.

If elected, Toney vowed that his Justice Department would be a “firewall” against the “liberal supermajority” on the state Supreme Court and the “left-wing agenda that so many — including Josh Kaul — are pushing here in Wisconsin. … I will put public safety over politics.”

Toney said another Kaul “broken promise” is failing to fight the fentanyl and heroin epidemic. “He’s ignored the border crisis of fentanyl, methamphetamine pouring into the United States and here in Wisconsin.”

The state crime lab Kaul oversees is “taking over twice as long” to test DNA samples that prosecutors rely on to solve crimes, Toney said.

But Kaul claimed success in fighting the opioid epidemic, citing what he said was a drop of “more than 40%” in Wisconsin’s opioid-related deaths between 2023 and 2024. “That is saving the lives of hundreds of Wisconsinites.”

Kaul said he joined national lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors that resulted in “the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars” from those businesses. That has given local communities statewide “significant resources to help fight that epidemic,” the Democrat added.

Kaul said his Justice Department started a “sexual assault kit tracking system” that puts new emphasis on those crimes, fought to strengthen the Office of School Safety and pushed for more resources for crime victims.

“Eric Toney will not stand up to special interests like I have,” Kaul said. “He certainly won’t stand up to Donald Trump like I have.”

The two also traded allegations on their opponent’s record on transgender rights and abortion.

Toney said Kaul refused “to stand up for families in New Richmond to protect girls’ bathrooms and space.” If elected, Toney said he would “stand up for girls and women and protect their spaces in their bathrooms here in Wisconsin.”

Kaul said he successfully sued to stop an 1848 law banning abortions from being enforced after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the procedure was not constitutionally protected. Toney opposed Kaul’s lawsuit to stop the 1848 law from taking effect, Kaul said.

The race for attorney general is expected to again be very close. In 2022, Kaul won by just 35,000 votes out of 2.6 million cast, with Evers at the top of the ticket. But Evers is not running again.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com.